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Joe Streckert

Joe Streckert is the author of Storied & Scandalous Portland, Oregon: A History of Gambling, Vice, Wits, and Wagers. He writes about books, history, and comics.
Posted inHistory

Tracing the History of Queer Spaces in Portland

Silverado was once Flossie’s; Lowensdale Park was once a place to cruise—take a brief dive into a history of our city’s queer spaces.
Avatar photo Joe Streckert

[Find the Mercury‘s Queer Guide in print—available in more than 500 spots citywide!—eds.] The Silverado is obviously and stridently a gay bar. Rainbow tassels line the kitchen, attractive men in snug underwear sling drinks, and posters of shirtless guys adorn the walls. Also, after nine at night male strippers perform in the Silverado’s basement. The […]

Posted inQueer Guide 2024

Queer Bars in Portland, a History

Silverado was once Flossie’s; Lowensdale Park was once a place to cruise—take a brief dive into a history of our city’s queer spaces.
Avatar photo Joe Streckert

[Find the Mercury‘s Queer Guide in print—available in more than 500 spots citywide!—eds.] The Silverado is obviously and stridently a gay bar. Rainbow tassels line the kitchen, attractive men in snug underwear sling drinks, and posters of shirtless guys adorn the walls. Also, after nine at night male strippers perform in the Silverado’s basement. The […]

Posted inBooks

Oregon’s Mark O. Hatfield Was a Fascinating Political Figure—But in a New Biography, He’s a Snooze

Avatar photo Joe Streckert

Courtesy of University of Oklahoma Press Mark O. Hatfield is one of the most significant politicians in Oregon’s history. He held office in the Oregon state legislature, spent two terms as governor, and had a thirty-year stint as Oregon’s US senator. His career is—in fact—fascinating for anyone interested in Oregon history, or broader American political […]

Posted inBooks

Robert Evans’ After the Revolution: A Vision of a Splintered US Future (With Nudist Cyborg Super-Soldiers)

Avatar photo Joe Streckert

Tavia Morra, courtesy of ak press Speculating about how the US will crack apart is a cottage industry for sci-fi authors and political commentators. Ernest Callenbach did it in 1975 with Ecotopia, a novel about the Pacific Northwest seceding from the rest of the country. In 1981, journalist Joel Garreau argued that the US was […]

Posted inBooks

Book Review: Rajneeshpuram Digs Into the Behind-the-Scenes Dirt of the ’80s Oregon Rajneesh Cult

Avatar photo Joe Streckert

Rajneeshees line up outside of a building in the 1980s. The movement created upheaval in the sleepy town of Antelope, which they renamed Rajneesh. Courtesy of Oregon Historical Society Any current work about Rajneeshpuram—the cult that operated out of Wasco County, Oregon in the ’80s— lives in the shadow of Netflix’s 2018 documentary series Wild […]

Posted inBooks

People Want to Read Changing the Narrative, PSU’s Graphic Novel Comic Collection About Student Homelessness

Avatar photo Joe Streckert

Changing the Narrative visually tells the stories of those who have been homeless and/or experienced food and housing insecurities. ARTIST ARANTZA PEÑA POPO, COPYRIGHT PSU 2021 Portland State University instructor Kacy McKinney has used comics to teach in her classroom, written about them academically, and made them herself. Now she’s bringing local organizations together with […]

Posted inSpring Arts Preview 2022

People Want to Read Changing the Narrative, PSU’s Graphic Novel Comic Collection About Student Homelessness

Avatar photo Joe Streckert

Portland State University instructor Kacy McKinney has used comics to teach in her classroom, written about them academically, and made them herself. Now she’s bringing local organizations together with indie artists to tell stories about homelessness, and what it means to cope with food and housing insecurity, through an 80-page full color comic. Changing the […]

Posted inBooks

Lost Portland Uncovers Not Only Dead Buildings but the History of Portland’s Arsonist Firefighter

Avatar photo Joe Streckert

Courtesy of The History Press If you’re walking through inner Portland, there’s a good chance whatever buildings you’re looking at sit on the sites of past constructions. Since at least the 1890s, flames or wrecking balls have claimed cathedrals, mansions, office buildings, and family homes, swept aside by the needs of the city or the […]

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